Another Way
by GRValis
Summary: Kat calls Raven to a park in Auldnoir to tell her the only thing she remembered when she woke up in Hekseville, something that sticks with Raven even three years later.
1. Chapter 1

Crossposted from my AO3. And sorry in advance but if I had to suffer from this idea, then you all get to suffer with me.

 **Another Way**

There was a little park in Auldnoir, tucked away on one of the lower levels. It looked as though hardly anyone visited, outside of the birds. If it hadn't been for the old slide and swingset, it would have been impossible to tell it was a park at all.

Even the large tree in it's center was nothing special, not compared to those by the church. Everything about this place seemed unimportant and forgettable to Raven. Which made the fact Kat had asked her to follow her here all the weirder.

Raven leaned up against a wall as Kat took a seat on the swingset, idly pushing the seat back and forth as she stared at a spot in front of the tree. Hekseville's resident hero seemed lost in thought. And seeing the normally energetic girl so muted was offputting.  
"As much as I'm enjoying the peace and quiet, it's kind of weird so what's going on?"  
"Raven," Kat looked up at her, red eyes meeting blue, "we're friends, right?"

Raven blinked. Whatever she had been expecting, it definitely wasn't that.  
"Where did that come from? I wouldn't be here if we weren't."  
"Sorry, I just-"  
"You're too excitable," Raven continued, cutting Kat off, "and don't seem to know how to shut up. Keeping up with you is exhausting sometimes... but it wouldn't feel right if you were gone."

For the first time since Raven had arrived at the Pipe House a half hour earlier, a geniuine smile appeared on Kat's face.  
"That's more like it. You're supposed to be the insufferably happy one."  
"I'm not sure if I should be pleased or insulted though."  
"Maybe both," Raven laughed, stepping away from the wall and taking a seat on the other swing beside Kat, "so why show me this place?"

Kat looked back at the tree. Only this time her gaze seemed more sentimental than wistful.  
"You remember the first time we saw each other, on the rooftops? You took one look at me and then flew off."  
"I remember. Didn't know who you were at the time," Raven nodded, deciding not to add that that was the only reason she hadn't attacked on sight like their next several meetings.  
"You want to know why I'd tried to talk to you that day? Why you'd never heard of me until then?"

Now it was Raven idly rocking her seat back and forth as she thought back to that day where Kat had first appeared in her life. She couldn't guess how that encounter, as brief as it had been, tied back to this forgotten park. So she nodded and let Kat continue.

Raven stayed quiet and listened as Kat told the story of her first day in Hekseville, waking up beneath that tree with no idea where she was. How she had found out about her and Dusty's abilities, only to be chased off by an ungrateful Aujean. Raven made a mental note to pay the ice cream seller a _visit_ at some point for that.  
"-so then I saw you flying by and thought maybe you'd know what was going on, or who I am. No luck there, huh?"  
"Doesn't seem like it."

"So then I ran into Syd. Got my name, found my house, got settled in and you know the rest."  
"Rough first day." Raven commented, not really sure what to add.  
"It turned out okay in the end," Kat said back, smiling at her friend. Just the sight of her happy again seemed to drain the almost-depressing seriousness of moments ago.  
"I guess it did."

The two shared the moment, enjoying how far they had both come since that day. Kat stood up and walked over to the tree, kneeling at it's base to pet the starry black cat sleeping in it's shade. Raven's own companion was perched on the top of the swingset.  
"Why tell me this, Kat?"  
"I don't know really. Just a thought I had, maybe I should tell you more about me. I'd tell Syd too but he tried to foist his work on me last time I tried."  
"As lazy as ever it seems."  
"He called it ' _using all available resources'_ ," Kat laughed, "but I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to go dumpster diving for evidence. So I pushed him in and left him to get on with it."

The small park was filled with the sound of their laughter at that particular mental image. Raven almost wished she'd been there to see the look on his face. Kat took her seat back beside her, having finished bothering Dusty.  
"Still must be rough not knowing where you're from." Raven said.  
"At first it was but now, it's not so bad. I might not know who I was but I'm happy with who I am now."  
"Being happy with who you are now, huh..." Raven muttered, looking up at the sky peeking through from between the upper levels.  
"Raven?"  
"It's nothing."

There were limits to what she was willing to admit to. And if she did ever admit that, thanks to Kat, she could actually enjoy herself again, she'd never live it down. Although judging by the smirk on the blonde shifter's face, she already knew anyway. Time to change the subject before the teasing began.  
"So the only thing you had to go on is that ' _there was another way_ '?"  
"Yup. That's all I remembered."  
"Any idea what that meant?"  
"Not a one. Gade won't tell and I asked Aki a while ago but I'd have better luck getting a straight answer out of a Nevi than Pandora."

That probably explained why Raven had been the one paying for dinner the last two weeks. If Aki knew the concept behind a friend discount, she certainly didn't care to follow it.  
"Maybe it's to do with you," Kat mused.  
"Why me?"  
"Well, think about it. The way things were going back then, the two options were you beating me or me beating you. And yet here we are! Or there's the choice between saving the districts in the Rift Planes or Boutoume. We managed both."

It was a good theory but Raven didn't buy it, shaking her head as she stood.  
"No. I doubt it is that simple. Whatever that's referring to probably involves who you were before."  
"Yeah that sounds likely. Well it doesn't really matter," Kat hopped to her feet too, almost bouncing up beside Raven. "I figure I'll know what it means when it happens."  
"Well be sure to tell me when you do," Raven patted her on the shoulder, "I'll help where I can."  
"Will do! We'll figure it out together."  
"Right."

Kat definitely seemed back to her usual self again, beaming away as the two starry animals joined the pair. Even a loud growling coming from her stomach didn't seem to dampen her spirits, especially when Raven's decided to join in.  
"Well I think that means it's time for dinner. I found a stall that makes really good apple pies. My treat?"  
"You had me at pie." Raven admitted as the two took to the skies and headed on their way.

It had been over three years in Hekseville before Raven found herself back in that quiet little park. It seemed a little more overgrown but was still basically the same as it had been before. Still the same old slide and swingset, the same old bench and the same old tree.

The only thing that changed was that this time Raven arrived alone. She stared up at the tree in silence for several minutes before taking the seat on the swingset that she had taken all that time ago.

If anyone else had been around, the icy glare on Raven's face would have seemed more fitting on how she had looked before she had met Kat. Back when she had been nothing more than a tool to scare and manipulate Hekseville.

She scratched at some bandages on her midriff, the burns from the fight with the woman in gold still healing. But even the pain that still gave her seemed like nothing compared to what she felt when she looked at that tree and remembered the talk they had shared.  
"There was another way," she muttered, looking across at where Kat had been, where she _should_ have been. "so much for figuring it out together."

She stood, turning away. It had only been a couple weeks since that day, Kat being gone was still almost too much for her to face.  
"That was the answer you came up with? Sacrificing yourself... you idiot. You stupid-"

Any further words were cut off by the clang of impact on metal, the swingset almost toppling as Raven punched the frame. Even without using her powers she managed to put a very noticeable dent in the metal. It didn't help. It hadn't helped when she'd punched a wall. It hadn't helped when she'd torn the last Nevi attack apart.

Even punching Syd hadn't done anything to change the fact that Kat was gone. That a part of what made Raven who she was had been taken away and was not coming back. She tried to fight back tears but even that didn't work.  
"Y-you didn't have to- we could have found a better way! Why that?"

Perhaps the one comfort of this park was that no one was around to witness her. It took several minutes before she managed to gather herself, wiping her eyes on her sleeves as she looked up at the tree that had been the start of Kat's story.

As much as the temptation was there to uproot the tree, hurl it out of Hekseville and tear the whole place apart, she knew it was wrong. Kat had always cared about the city, Raven couldn't bring herself to do any more damage to it.

So she left, before she could lost control again and have another outburst. She raced through Auldnoir, ignoring the people as she flew over head before dropping down to Kat's house. Although she guessed it was hers now.

Even that thought seemed wrong. But she refused to abandon it, it had meant so much to the both of them. She stepped inside, collapsing on the bed. It certainly didn't seem as warm and comforting as it had before, she hadn't managed to get much sleep since Kat had gone. It wasn't the same without Kat elbowing her in the back at some stupid time of night because she couldn't stay still even when sleeping.

Raven always managed to get payback the next morning, usually by shoving her out of the bed. She pulled herself back to a sitting position, wincing at the lightning burns as she pushed herself so her back was against the pipe's wall.

Tucking her knees to her chest, she sat silently, staring at the photos that covered the walls. One in particular stood out, the two of them just after reuniting in Jirga Para Lhao. Syd, Lisa and Cecie looking on in shock as the two of them ate enough food for ten.

Raven found herself wondering if they felt the same way she did, if they missed Kat as much. She hoped they didn't, she couldn't wish that on anyone. Still, she hadn't been able to work up the courage to face them and find that out.

The look on Kat's face in the picture, seeming both frustrated as she tried to wrestle a plate of bacon out of Raven's grasp as well as happy to have been reunited with her best friend, was all it took to start another round of crying again. And this one, this one Raven didn't know how to stop.


	2. Chapter 2

**Another Way - Part 2**

Raven didn't know how long it had been since arriving in the palace of ice at the top of the pillar. There had been a flash of light and she had awoken chained to a pillar in an empty, dark room. Dusty and Xii were trapped in a cage by her feet, but apart from that she was utterly alone.

" _She has to come,_ " was the only thought Raven held on to, the one thing keeping her sane. Her only hint at time passing was the occasional appearance of a guard bringing her water. They didn't bring food, and had refused to speak when Raven had tried to ask what was going on, why she was in chains, and where Kat was. Eventually she'd given up trying to talk to them, instead just glaring with all the defiance she could muster as she waited for Kat to come.

Just when the hope started to fade, and it was seeming like she'd been wrong, when her legs had given out from exhaustion and the manacles on her arms dug into her skin as they held her up, that was when the starry cat trapped with her started making noise.

She barely looked up. It hadn't been the first time Dusty had suddenly started calling out, and it hadn't worked before. She didn't have the strength to spare to get her hopes up, and yet Dusty kept meowing. The call blared through the silence, echoing through the chamber and up the large spiral staircase.

It took her a moment to register a sound coming from up above. As the door opened, its flickering light illuminated her prison for a split-second. As footsteps sounded out, coming down the stairs, Raven thought it was just another guard coming to shove a glass of water in her face. But her throat wasn't dry, it felt too early for that.

The footsteps continued down the stairs. Now Raven was listening, they seemed lighter than the guards had been, almost hesitant. Even hanging limply from her chains, Raven could see Xii and Dusty's cage out of the corner of her eye. They were watching the staircase with an intensity she hadn't seen in what felt like forever.

The footsteps made it to the bottom of the staircase, their owner's breath hitching as they took in the sight before them. But it was what followed that gave Raven the strength to force herself to raise her head: the sound of Kat's voice.  
"W-who…"

It took a moment for the dizziness to settle and her vision to clear, but when it did Raven could see Kat wearing some odd ornate white robes and clutching at her head, seeming very confused. But she was here. That was all that mattered. It made the aches, hunger and exhaustion fade away.

For the first time since they'd reached the top of the pillar, Raven managed a smile.  
"Hey…" she managed to say, voice dry and muted but she forced the words out, "what's with… the fancy outfit?"

Kat's eyes changed from confusion to recognition. She threw the robe's headpiece aside, calling out Raven's name as she went about freeing Raven and the two guardians. Kicks made short work of the cage, and Jupiter ripped apart Raven's chains, Kat lowering her to the ground.  
"I'm so sorry Raven," she was saying, over and over, even as she threw the robes to the ground, "I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't remember anything. They lied to me."

Raven managed to pull herself back up to a sitting position, despite every muscle in her body feeling like lead. Kat watched her every movement, concern all over her face but she let Raven do it on her own.  
"When we... arrived at the palace. I saw a light and... lost consciousness. I've been here ever since," Raven explained, before managing another weak smile and managing to add, "I knew.. I knew you'd come for me."

She could feel herself start to fade, exhaustion no longer willing to be ignored. Before she fell, Kat caught her, gently lowering her to ground.  
"Don't try to move!" she insisted, as if Raven had been in any condition for that. "I'll come back for you, stay here and lay low."

Kat stood up, Dusty immediately falling in step beside her as she turned away. Raven could see the anger filling her as she vowed to stop whoever had done this. Kat walked away, striding with purpose back up the stairs, while Raven's eyes drifted shut.

When she opened them again, she was staring at the ceiling of the pipe house. She didn't need to look at the clock to know it was morning. Her cheeks were wet as she threw off the blanket. She sat up on the bed and stared blankly at the wall. The same dream again. Every night it was the same thing, the last time she'd seen Kat alive. Her very subconscious was taunting her with Kat's last words.

There was a flutter of wings as Xii landed on the table beside the bed, but Raven didn't react, focused on playing that last memory over in her head one more time. One hand idly rubbed at her wrist, where the shackles had left red welts on her skin that had now faded to almost invisible scars.

It had been six weeks now since that day. And Kat was not coming back for her. The link they had shared, the only thing that had let Raven hold on hope while imprisoned had been torn apart. It was gone. And it had taken a part of Raven with it.

Her clothes were in total disarray, hanging loose off of her. One of her sleeves still had a tear in it from weeks ago. She didn't notice. She didn't notice as her hair, now one tangled mess, hung across her face.

It didn't matter that it was blocking her eyes, she wasn't seeing anything in the present. All she could focus on was the memory of Kat walking away. She could still picture every little detail, the way Kat's scarf had trailed behind her, the way she had stomped on the first couple steps of the staircase in anger.

It was like Raven was there again. But she wasn't. She couldn't go back and do it again, to try and change things. Maybe if she hadn't passed out then, or been strong enough to break herself free earlier, things would have been different. But there was no more Bit, no more Ark. This past was set in stone. No matter what she was willing to sacrifice, she could not change it.

A week ago that thought would have triggered another outburst, either uncontrollable sobbing or blind rage. But now there was nothing. Just a dull ache in her head and the ever-constant feeling that she was no longer whole.

She would have remained trapped in her own thoughts for hours, but the sensation of Xii hopping up onto her knee shook her out of it. While her guardian had never been as openly affectionate as Dusty had been, his presence gave Raven something to anchor to. And that was reassurance enough.

"What am I supposed to do?" Raven managed to ask, the first words she'd said in days. Xii hopped forwards and pressed himself against the hand she rested on her lap, rubbing his head against her open palm.

That managed to get a smile out of her. A faint one, but a smile nonetheless. Giving Xii's feathers a quick ruffle, she brushed her hair out of her eyes with her free hand and finally noticed how much of a mess it was.

Xii returned to their perch on the table as Raven got up from the bed and moved over to the mirror mounted on the wall. Finally out of her own memories, it only took a glance for her to see just how bad she looked. Compared to the proud, determined Raven of months ago, the Raven looking back in the mirror was almost alien.

Instead of being able to glare a Nevi into submission, her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from tears that left marks running down her cheeks. What skin wasn't still healing from the lightning burns was a sickly pale, making her look even more lethargic.  
"...Maybe a shower would be a good idea," she said, mainly to herself, but she was more than aware of the pointed look that Xii was giving her.

Still there was no time to waste, not while she still had the energy and drive to actually go through with it. The warm water helped drive away some of the exhaustion, letting her feel a little bit more like her old self again.

Once she had finished scrubbing away the unclean sticky sensation she'd been putting up with for the last few days, Raven stepped out of the shower, dried off, and got her hair back into order. But whatever she had been planning to do next got derailed as, while she was getting dressed, she caught a glimpse of a red fabric on top of a crate.

She recognized that fabric immediately. Despite herself, despite knowing what was about to happen, she couldn't help but walk over and pick up the cloth. As she held it up it unfurled into a very, very familiar red dress. Kat's red dress, one that she had somehow acquired during her attempt to infiltrate the Bismalia that had resulted in her singing on stage.

Thinking about how only Kat could have that happen to her would have brought a smile to Raven's face before. It was the kind of thing the two of them would have laughed over during lunch, or when watching television at night. But now, just the sight of the dress was enough to make the aching emptiness return full force.

Raven dropped the dress on the ground and went to leave before she could start crying again, only to turn back before she could step through the curtain. She picked up the dress again and went about carefully dusting it off and returning it to the crate, exactly as she found it.

Xii noticed her wiping her eyes as she came back into the bedroom. The starry corvid stepped over to the edge of the table, but Raven blanked him as she walked past. She practically fell into the chair beside him, holding her head in her hands.

Time paused as she stayed like that, motionless, running over the events of Jirga Para Lhao for what felt like the thousandth time. Xii, despite his best effort, couldn't shake her out of this one. But what did get her attention was the faint whirring sound of an airboat's engine coming from outside of the pipe house.

Raven looked towards the entrance as she heard the boat land, the engine shut off and footsteps heading up the wooden platform. There was a brief knock on the side of the pipe. Raven said nothing, giving no indication she was there or awake. She merely stared and hoped they would leave.

So when Syd decided to look through the curtain, he was met with a vicious glare. It stalled him for a moment. He certainly remembered the last time he and Raven had spoken, shortly after Kat had vanished, and the black eye that had resulted.

It sure didn't look like Raven had forgiven him for his part in Kat's disappearance, or everything that had led up to it. Still, she hadn't punched him yet, and he had come too far to back down at the first sign of trouble.  
"Morning, Raven," he said, forcing a smile. He did not get one in return, the glare only deepening.  
"Leave."

Syd sighed to himself. Getting on good terms with Raven again was not going to be an easy road, but it was one he had to walk. He stepped through the curtain and inside the pipe house proper. Raven bristled, but otherwise said not a word as he passed by her, dropping a backpack off of his shoulder and onto the bed.

He opened the bag and started rummaging inside, trying to ignore the death-glare that bore a hole into his back.  
"You know the stall owners in the square haven't seen you in a couple days?" he said. There was no response, but he could feel the glare lessen in intensity.

Syd glanced around the pipe house. While he had not seen inside it since they had gotten pulled to Banga, it looked much the same as it always had. Kat seemed to have picked up a few trinkets since then, things that Raven had clearly not moved. Yet the most important detail was what was not there, with no fridge or food storage to be seen.  
"Raven, when was the last time you ate?"

Still no response. Syd looked over his shoulder and met her gaze, which was now far less aggressive. That was all the answer he needed. Out of the bag came a large metal thermos that he placed on the table beside Xii.  
"Here. It's soup, should be easy on your stomach."  
"I'm not hungry."

Syd didn't believe her in the slightest. With her pale and sickly complexion, it was as clear as day that she had not been eating properly. But Syd had prepared for that, and a bowl and spoon came out of the backpack to join the thermos on the table. This brought Xii hopping over to the bed.

"Look, I'm not going to sit here and force you to eat. I fully expect you to throw that away the moment I leave," Syd admitted.  
"Then why are you here?"  
"Because I'm worried about you."

The death-glare was back and there was a cracking sound as Raven clenched her fists tight enough to crack her knuckles. Syd didn't let it bother him; she was still very mad and could very well never forgive him. He had already come to terms with that, but it did not change what he had to do.

"It's not just me," he said, reaching back into the backpack and pulling out some envelopes. He held them out. After receiving no response from Raven for several seconds, he gave them to Xii instead.

"Those are from Aki and Cecie, all of Banga really. They're worried about you too. Everyone is. They just can't get here, so I'm passing on the messages."  
"Oh…" Raven muttered, her earlier hostility vanishing. She suddenly seemed smaller, almost withdrawing into herself, as Xii hopped up onto her lap and dropped the envelopes in her palm.

Syd shut his backpack and slipped it back on, stepping past Raven as she glanced over Aki's and Cecie's handwriting. He had done what he came to do, and there was no sense in pushing his luck any further. The last thing he wanted to do was make the situation any worse.

But before he could step through the curtain and leave, there was one last thing he felt he had to say.  
"I know it's hard to see me, after everything. But try not to shut them out, too. They miss Kat almost as much as you do."  
There was a clattering as Raven bumped the table and sent Xii flying as she shot to her feet. An almost vicious anger overcame her. Syd mentioning Kat's name has been the final straw. "Get out. Before I throw you off of Hekseville."

Syd knew it was an empty threat. If she was going to do that, she'd have done it six weeks ago. Instead, all he'd gotten was a black eye.  
"Just go see them. She wouldn't want you to stay in here forever."

He ducked through the curtain and left, a half-second before a candlestick smashed into the wall next to where his head had been. Raven didn't move to follow, arms trembling as she fought to get her breathing back under control.

Xii watched her silently, as always. As the whirring of Syd's airboat faded into the distance, she managed to calm herself down and fell back into the chair.  
"I'm breaking his jaw next time," she vowed, still fuming.

Things faded into silence again. Another ten minutes passed. Raven just staring blankly at her own reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall. Xii hopped down onto the floor and retrieved the letters that had fallen during her outburst, which she sheepishly took back.

Then Xii hopped onto the table and tapped on the thermos, the sound of beak on metal catching Raven's attention. She looked at the large flask of soup, the bowl and spoon laid out before her, and the pointed look Xii was giving her.  
"...Fine."

Unable to ignore her guardian, she unscrewed the cap on the thermos and poured the soup into the bowl. Originally intending to only eat enough to make Xii happy, she soon realised just how hungry she actually was as she started eating. And before she knew it, the bowl was empty and she poured what was left in the thermos in and devoured that too.

By the time Raven was done, a little colour had returned to her complexion. Xii perched on her shoulder, looking proud of himself, as she looked over at the envelopes. Raven wasn't sure why, but she was afraid to open them, to see what was inside.

But Syd's words, no matter how much they infuriated her, still rang in her head. She looked up, making her decision. Getting to her feet, she threw the letters onto the bed, and for the first time in days, she stepped out of the pipe house and into the Hekseville air.

"Might as well go see them in person," she said. Xii, seeming more than a little pleased at this, took to the sky with her. Pleajeune was closer than Jirga Para Lhao, so Raven decided to go see Aki first, flying over Auldnoir heading towards the pleasure district.

Just as she was about to pass out of Auldnoir, however, the sight of smoke caught her attention. A loudspeaker suddenly started blaring.  
" _A gravity rift has appeared in the old factory. Nevi attack in progress. All citizens please evacuate immediately._ "

Raven hovered in the air for a moment as the alert repeated itself. She could see people below starting to flee. She glanced over at Xii, then back to the smoke.  
"...Kat wouldn't want me to ignore this, would she?" she asked herself, already knowing the answer. "Xii! Let's go!"

The two hurtled towards trouble, ready to fight whatever it was they found. Aki was going to have to wait a little longer. Hekseville may have lost its Gravity Queen, but Raven was determined to fill that void as best she could. Nothing was going to hurt Kat's city. Not if she had anything to do with it.


End file.
